


An Older Brother's Plight

by Aibhilin



Series: A story is what you make of it [1]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Coercion, Gen, I feel like there ought to be a warning for the previous tag - the chapters are really really short, I'm a sucker for comedy tbh, If the damsel in distress doesn't know they're in distress it still counts as comedy right?, Impel Down, Kidnapping, Marine!Ace, Moby Dick (One Piece) - Freeform, Morally Ambiguous Character, Not Beta Read, Other, POV Multiple, Scheming!Teach, Shenanigans, Short Chapters, The Author Regrets Nothing, This took a weird turn, excuse the profanity, it's pirates not nuns we're dealing with here, scheming!Sabo, the man ought to be a warning by himself already, this fic is entertaining me a lot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2020-01-17
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:54:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 15,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21934789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aibhilin/pseuds/Aibhilin
Summary: A pirate, a revolutionary and a marine meet on the Moby Dick.What sounds like the beginning of a bad joke devolves into a weirdly well-thought-through rescue attempt, utterly unnecessary teasing and banter with marine officials and Impel Down shenanigans.Please excuse the profanity at times (to be fair, it’s pirates not nuns we’re dealing with here), as well as the frankly disappointing and woefully underwhelming length of the chapters.I have to say, I did make up for the latter by posting daily for 24 days and finishing this story within those.
Relationships: Portgas D. Ace & Sabo, Portgas D. Ace & Whitebeard Pirates, Sabo (One Piece) & Whitebeard Pirates
Series: A story is what you make of it [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1608901
Comments: 91
Kudos: 256





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is what happens when a bad joke devolves into a fanfic.  
> Here's the first chapter. Enjoy!

“Permission to come aboard?” Seeing as they’d been briefed on it coming, the polite request didn’t faze anyone, even if the circumstances were absurd.

A pirate, a revolutionary and a marine meet on the Moby Dick.

It sounded almost like the beginning of a joke, and a bad one at that. Two out of the three would behave like cats if in each other’s company, add a third and stir lightly for absolute mayhem.

“Permission granted.” the gravelly voice of the strongest man in the world sounded clearly across the deck.

When the leather-booted feet alit on the railing, the Yonko crew was admittedly curious about the newcomer, but that was it. No surprise attacks came. The wary nervousness surrounding the crew was calmed greatly by their captain and their commanders' relaxed demeanour.

“What a party. And no one invited me? I’m disappointed.” Grey eyes studied the assembly warily before they quickly found his brother’s blond hair, singling the revolutionary out from all the as-yet unknown faces. Enemy territory was just that, as far as he was concerned.

When Sabo heard the voice, he turned around in his spot in front of Whitebeard to get a good look at the newly arrived marine and then, ignoring the Yonko in a dismissive move not many were capable of getting away with on these seas, he proceeded to make a beeline for him.

“Oh, you must be mistaken. I quite literally called you to invite you here.”

Focusing narrowing eyes on the blond menace, the fire logia replied in a scathing voice, “Yeah, and you also said you had something for me. How bout the information on how you got my Den Den number, when I distinctly recall not handing it out to anyone in the Revolutionary Army?”

A finger was brought to his lips as the former aristocrat replied, “Ah, I’m sorry, but that’s a trade secret.” A beat, then “I’ve got something far better for you.” Coming to a halt about two steps away from his raven-haired brother, he invitingly put his hands together and held them out in front of his body. “You may arrest me, Rear Admiral.”

Ace boggled at that. None of the Whitebeards seemed surprised, however, so he quickly got his bearings back and hissed, “You planned this. Why?”

Sabo rolled his eyes. “Why, I just thought it’d be a great day for an arrest, Rear Admiral. The sun’s shining, the company’s nice – and, oh, there’s a convenient Rear Admiral right in front of me who’s been dying to get his hands on me for ages. I just thought 'Hey. Why not? I hear Impel Down ought to be good this time of the year.'"

The marine was _so_ _done_ with his brother’s bullshit. “Again, why?”

Pretending to be hurt, Sabo put a hand over his heart in a dramatic fashion. “You don’t believe me?” Looking around at the Whitebeard pirates who were by then realizing the present as well as future entertainment value of their unexpected guests (particularly if the revolutionary were to do what he’d told them he would) and were settling in for a show, he went on to pretend to swoon in front of the increasingly irate marine. “Oh, woe is me!”

Pausing briefly for dramatic effect, he continued, regarding the marine with a challenge in his eyes, “My reasons are my own, Rear Admiral. So why don’t you do the polite thing and arrest me?”

Apparently, the Yonko and his pirate crew were waiting for what Ace would decide to do – nonetheless, it wasn’t clear which way he really ought to go to resolve this situation. On the one hand, he could arrest Sabo, transport him to the next marine stronghold and get him incarcerated in Impel Down. That would have even been the most obvious and simple choice, had the person he’d essentially be dooming to that Hell not been his commonsense-challenged moron of a brother.

On the other hand, that left… what, exactly? Sabo had always known how to get what he wanted in the end and it was pretty obvious to everyone on board that he currently wanted to be sent to that spectacularly underwhelming version of a holiday resort.

Ace realized that he’d be forced to arrest his brother whether he liked it or not and to say that he was less than thrilled with the idea would be an understatement. Grimacing slightly, he had a second epiphany and a bit of hope stirred in his gut. If he arrested his brother, would the Whitebeards attack him to get him back?

“Oh, no. That won’t happen. You see, our dear hosts agreed to let us leave without causing a ruckus.” Why was his brother able to read him like a book? He’d been getting better at keeping his thoughts off his face and body language, he was sure of that! “So, about that arrest?”

“I'm not gonna repeat myself again. Why do you want to be arrested?” And he better have a _good reason_ for putting his incarceration in the closest thing to hell that the marines have been able to conjure up on Ace's conscience.

“I have friends there.” Was the cheery blond's nonchalant reply to the inquiry.

Of course he did. A tick developed on Ace's forehead.

“Last time I arrested you, you singlehandedly decimated an entire fleet of marine ships. What’s to say you won’t do that again?” Oh, that had been a nightmare to hash out and he’d only barely escaped closer scrutiny because he had been able to provide proof that he had indeed handed the second in command of the Revolutionary Army off to a Vice Admiral before it had happened. ( _to this day he harboured strong suspicions that that had possibly been orchestrated by his brother, the ever-scheming imp_ )

“And that is exactly why you’re carrying finger and thumb cuffs on your person these days, aren’t you?” was the innocent reply. What else had his brother unearthed about him while finding out that little detail? “Here, I’ll hold still, I promise.” At that, the revolutionary turned his back on Ace and held his hands and fingers together helpfully behind his back.

Sometimes, he really hated his brother's half-cocked plans.

A tad exasperated in the face of such an open display of obviously misguided helpfulness, Ace began to look around at the _popcorn munching Yonko and his crew_ \- no, wait, those were clearly idiots he was dealing with here.

Incredulous at the peanut gallery’s actions, he closed his eyes for a moment.

When, upon opening them again, the scene hadn’t changed at all, he finally gave in and rubbed the bridge of his nose to stave off the headache he’d suspected he’d be getting in the course of events when he’d first answered the call from the Den Den Mushi and it’d been his brother’s voice on the other end. Today was not his day.


	2. Chapter 2

Edward Newgate was intrigued. The two deals he’d entered with the revolutionary were interesting. “A brother for a brother, huh.” His thoughts centered around the ex-Pirate King's son. Had he truly survived? But the feelings the young newcomer on board had given off when mentioning that particular tidbit of information had been genuine. The young lad had honestly believed what he’d been telling them to be the truth.

To then have another deal trussed upon him especially which amounted basically to “no interference, please” while a marine would come and arrest said young man was ingenious. Like that, they could see his trustworthiness ( _not that they’d had doubts after the revolutionary had saved Thatch_ ) in action and observe him acting on his part of the deal.

A pirate’s word wasn’t exactly weighed up in gold, a revolutionary's even less so in these troublesome days. Double crossing other people practically came part and parcel with the job.

The Rear Admiral that had come after had been just as intriguing, too.

Spry young lads, the two of them, although he wondered at their relationship with each other. Chaser and quarry they obviously were, but the hesitancy and reluctance with which the marine greeted the easy arrest presented to him had the experienced captain think of a deeper connection between the two, one that was very well hidden under a few layers of back-and-forth bickering and their respective costumes. Strip those away and Whitebeard thought he saw glimpses of an older link between the two…

Then the marine admiral pulled out his handcuffs and, yes, the thumb and finger cuffs were used, as well, and the moment of a more intimate understanding of the two was lost as both slipped on their roles like a second skin.

Whitebeard blinked as the two turned towards him, both (one more cheerfully, the other a bit reluctantly) bidding him and his crew adieu before they hopped into the little dingy the Rear Admiral had used to get to the Moby Dick and off they were.

Of all the different ways that this day could have gone, these two have singlehandedly made it more interesting by far. By now, Newgate was well aware that the sea had all sorts of things in store for anyone daring to cross her. With a predatory grin, he ordered his commanders to join him in Navigation. They had plans to make, if they were expected to keep up with these young minds.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two brothers are sitting in a boat. That's about all there is to it, for now.

The small boat paved its way through the waves, its occupants locked in a stare-down as the paddles stood still, abandoned for the moment.

A huff, one averted his eyes, then “So you’re sure about this?”

A reassuring smile was sent his way. “Yup.” He popped the “p", dragging it out as he searched for a way to explain to his brother just what was on his mind. There was so much happening, so many different things to manage and consider and the marines, too, were on the move and-

No. His brother didn’t yet know about any of that at all, did he? Garp didn’t know, or he’d have already whisked him away, as far away from the marines as he could manage…

Sometimes being in the eye of the storm was not the best place to see what was going on.

But they weren’t there yet, they were still on that boat, going from the Whitebeards' vessel towards the marines'. And maybe it was a bit too early for a thorough explanation of things to come, no matter how much he owed it to his brother.

The waves lapped gently at their boat. The sun was shining, although, it being the Grand Line, that wasn’t likely to last for long. A slight breeze caressed through their wavy hair, the salt already making it a lost case for corrections, nevermind what Sabo thought he wanted to do with it. Fun in times where he needed a disguise. Not.

A sigh was heard. Grey eyes found his again. Obviously, his brother was less than impressed with his determination to get into that prison, one way or another. Of course, the entry ritual (or what was known of its implementation outside of Impel Down, at least) posed the biggest of Sabo's current worries. But he was confident in his Haki skills. And for good reason, too, though his brother couldn’t know the extent of his training. He shot his brother a fond look.

Overprotective motherhen.

Ace, meanwhile, had taken to rowing, once more. With Sabo's hands bound ( _and his brother’s inherent opportunistic laziness to boot_ ), getting them to his men's ship fell on his shoulders.

A grimace stole over his face for a brief moment. He’d have thought Sabo's men would stage an escape attempt, had he not already known better. Last time his brother had been arrested, they hadn’t, and look where that had gotten the marines' ships: onto the bottom of the sea, to freely collect seaweed in their spare time. Of which they had a lot, ever since.

And he hadn’t meant to meet the Whitebeards, when he’d set out after having received that call, either. If Garp's short bouts of exposition in-between bouts of the Fist of Love were to be believed, they were honourable men. There was, in his eyes, nothing altogether honourable in the indulgent munching of popcorn while a marine official arrested an infamous revolutionary on their ship.

Strongest Man in the World or not, he’d have thought they wouldn’t cooperate with marines like that. Weren’t they pirates? Weren’t they free to do as they wished? What could have possessed them to simply stand there and do nothing like that? As things stood, he viewed them as one step above the marine-sanctioned Warlords also known as Shichibukai.

A scowl spread over his face.

On Sabo's side, that was a welcome sight, frankly. He took it to mean that his brother would play along, for a certain amount of time at least.

The fond smile on his face settled down into an expression that his brothers would probably know to call “content". Everything was coming together nicely.

Soon, his brother would be rescued, even though he didn’t know yet that he’d need to be.

Soon, his brother would be freed from the shackles that bound him and roam the world.

Soon, his brother’s ancestry would not play a role in his choices, any longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written on the 26.12.2019 - this is what happens when you plan to update a story for 24 days in a row and only have 10 chapters prepared... ^_^' ah well. Hope you enjoyed it! More to follow tomorrow, when we'll be getting into the midst of the action~


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here start the Impel Down shenanigans! Fasten your seatbelts, dear readers, grab yourselves a hot cup of cocoa (or another prefered beverage) and settle down for now begins the fun stuff... *muahahaaa*

Donning his uniform had been a mistake, the marine ensign felt.

Oh, he hadn’t had the faintest idea of what would wait for him that day at all when he’d woken up, so doing so had been an innocent act on his part. But the chaos that had broken out at his work station in Impel Down – the safest prison with the fewest break-outs anywhere in the known world – when he’d shown up for duty had not been what he’d expected.

What he hadn’t been expecting, as well, had been the break-in that had been reported.

A break-in? Surely, the person on the other end of the internal Den Den was mistaking it for a break-out attempt? No, not at all, no cigar, sir. It had been a break-in that had been reported.

A break-in into the safest stronghold that the marine had to offer besides Marineford headquarters and Enies Lobby.

He’d not been the only one to do a double-take at that.

To admit that the marines had not been too prepared for that to happen would be an understatement. Who would dare? The audacity alone would make many a great man reconsider his options.

Getting in would clearly be the easy part of the operation, anyone could tell you that. When the intruders had gotten as far as the third level within a time frame that amounted to "basically no one in their way", the marine ensigns and higher-ups on duty at his station on the fifth floor had proceeded to freak out a little bit.

Where was the Warden?

No one had any idea what had happened to him. About as much was clear on how many intruders there were, in total – the numbers in the verbal accounts they’d gotten differed between two, five and fifty ( _although they felt it was closer to the last number given, the voice reporting that one was of an unknown ensign and they suspected it may well have been the enemy – so they remained extremely skeptical on how many enemies they’d probably be facing soon_ ).

( _better be on their guard and pessimistic in terms of how many intruders there were than dead_ )

Fortunately, there was a Rear Admiral in Impel Down.

He had apparently been visiting a criminal that was incarcerated on one of the lower levels and would be on the way to their station at that moment. Surely, nothing could go wrong?


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Set-up for the next two chapters. Necessary deviation from the main menu :D Enjoy!

When she entered the village after her shopping trip to the capital, she didn’t know what to think. The mayor was surrounded by a small throng of people, men and women alike, who were complaining to him about… a dressing-down they’d gotten, if she heard that right? What on earth…?

A man was gesticulating wildly with his hands as he was in the middle of a vivid recounting about aforementioned scolding, when the mayor, with an exasperated expression, turned to Makino and greeted her, effectively cutting the man off and shutting him up all with one move, rude though it was.

She greeted him back before going on to ask, ”What is going on here, mayor?”

Instead of satisfying her curiosity, he went off on a seemingly unrelated topic, asking her, “You know how Luffy is doing, right? The thing is, I haven’t heard from him at all lately and, well.”

Hrmming to himself all-importantly and blustering, Woop Slap apparently didn’t know how to go on after having said that.

Makino hid a smile behind her hand at the obvious display of worry for the boy, before she replied, “I visited him” _and Dadan and her group of mountain bandits_ “just last week. He seemed to be doing well. Is something the matter?”

“Ah, yes, you see… no, actually, there was just a misunderstanding. A misunderstanding, yes.” The old man turned away from her, grumbling to himself, although Makino caught a few sentences. She could barely make out a throwaway comment saying “She’s bound to come back through the village sometime, her boat’s anchored here.” And “We _did_ warn her about the mountain.” Before he raised his voice again to address the by then oddly fast calmed down crowd of people.

“Go back to work, y'all! There’s nothing to see any longer. No need to be upset because of an outsider, is there? Luffy’s alright, Makino said so. Go back to your day, y'all!”

Admittedly, the bartender was mostly just confused, at this point.

Eyebrow raised, she asked, “There was an outsider here?” The mayor did nothing to hide the wince. He coughed into his hand, then he turned to face her again.

“Ah, yes. That. A visitor came here just two hours ago. Made a right commotion, trying to get all up in Garp's business and all that.” The second eyebrow joined the first. It wasn’t often that someone dared go up against Garp in these parts.

Nodding righteously, the mayor went on to say, “Told them Luffy was alright. She demanded to know when we’d last seen 'im. And then she demanded to know the way to the mountain and off she went. Poor girl, young too!”

“And what about the people complaining to you?”

“Ah, those. 'Twas just that, well. Before she left, the girl had quite a few choice words to say about the way we handle things here…”

He shook his head. “Outsiders, eh?”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Incredibly short chapter ahoy! '^_^

It was not at all what she’d signed up for, no sir. A wayward plant snuck up on her and got tangled in her boots. Shaking it off with an increasingly irate mood, she trecked bravely on through the bushes. The path was barely visible through the undergrowth.

When her partner had told her his oh-so-genius plan that was already in the process of being acted upon ( _else she’d have done everything to stop it from ever leaving the drawing board and being set into motion and he’d bloody well known that, the miscreant_ ), she had grudgingly agreed to retrieve the mysterious brother from their home island.

To be fair, Dawn Island and the Goa Kingdom hadn’t been hard to find, either. No. What had set off her bad temper was the fact that no one in Foosha village had so much as seen said brother in a month and no-freaking-one had thought to check up on him, either!

Just what kind of upbringing did her comrade-in-arms have? It wasn’t the first time that she was wondering that, and it wouldn’t be the last time, either, she felt, for they did not really talk about personal stuff much at all. The less they knew about one another’s past, the less people would be in danger should one of them get caught. Nevertheless, she trusted him with her life. As he did her with his. And that of his brother, too.

“Monkey! D! Luffy!” her shouts echoed ominously through the jungle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for bearing with me~ the next part's a bit longer ;_)
> 
> Edit: after posting, I realized I didn't even call her by her name. Ah well. Makes for fun speculation ;D (it'll definitely be cleared up in a later chapter, no worries)  
> 2nd Edit: No fun speculation then - see the comments for more info. *pouts* (to be fair, it was pretty obvious)


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At this point I feel I ought to tell you that I'm continuously updating the tags as I write the chapters. 
> 
> So please do read and mind the tags.
> 
> Naturally, for the "wilder stuff" that I feel ought to have its own warnings, I'll put warnings into the notes at the beginning of the relevant chapter.
> 
> Nonetheless, I don't want to accidentally trigger anyone or have you read anything that you don't want to, so please do me the favour and look at the tags every now and again to check if I might post anything that might make you uncomfortable, dear readers.
> 
> Cheers!

The mutt was the first to announce that something was very, very wrong in the jungle surrounding Mount Corvo. It barked sharply twice, then it fell silent. Useless pet it was, most of the time, it did have some training.

Dadan’s eyes narrowed dangerously and she stopped in the midst of peeling the potatoes. Her underlings slowly, hesitatingly, halted their activities, as well, having picked up on her mood. Whatever the disturbance was, it had better go away on its own, and soon.

“Oi, Mogra!” the man stood to attention immediately, a potato and a peeler falling to the floor unheeded, injecting a respectful “Okashira?” with his question.

“Check out what the mutt has found.” Her order was to be obeyed, or else.

Certain of whatever it had been being dealt with for the moment, she took to peeling the potatoes in the basket in front of her, once more. It had better not be the brat cooking up trouble again. Last time he’d done that, they’d had to cut him out of the alligator down at the pond… a tic developed close to her eye at that and she slowed her peeling, the other bandits in the hut following suit, unnoticed by Dadan.

Who was she kidding? A sigh escaped her, as she mindlessly and mechanically continued the task, the bandits around her mimicking her. Her habitual grumbling that accompanied anything domestic absentmindedly began anew and had shoulders and bodies all around the hut relaxing from their alert state.

Could it really be anyone other than the devil child? Never mind that she’d had to take care of three of them at one point, one was plenty in terms of occupying and filling one’s time already. Her grumbling turned to teeth gnawing together in barely-hidden annoyance, making the bandits jump a bit and, recognising the signs, prepare for orders to be spewed out next.

When Dogra failed at hiding his flinch, she realised she’d started growling. Ah, that was something only one of the three monster children managed to bring out in her. A fleeting thought went to the other two – good riddance, they’d left when they’d been eleven already. Ever since, she’d been stuck with the third. When he’d first come to her he’d been too young, too weak, the runt of the pack. But, oh, could he pack a punch by the time she’d seen him again by himself after the older ones had left.

Dogra went to stand in front of her. “Okashira, I’m sure it’s nothing! Luffy won’t have gotten eaten again, not after we had to cut him out of that alligator’s stomach last time! At least I think he won’t have…” trailing off uncertainly, the bandit clearly wasn’t comfortable with his position right in front of Dadan’s angry eyes at that particular moment. None of the Dadan family were good with feelings, never mind trying to talk Dadan down while she was having one of her aggressive moments.

All of a sudden, the door didn’t so much open as it was flung out of its angles when Mogra hit it, having been thrown into the room from outside. Mogra’s trajectory was such that he hit Dadan straight on, making her fall over and land hard on Dogra who was still standing in front of her. A brief scuffle ensued, wherein someone stepped on Dadan’s feet and hands and oh, she’d have the head of that person once she-

“Where. Is. Monkey D Luffy?” the question, innocently posed, was uttered by a delicate, feminine voice and underlying the rosy tone with which it was spoken was the promise of certain pain and death should they fail to meet the speaker’s expectations. It was more of an order or a demand than a question, really, and had all eyes – wide, in surprise and mild trepidation – from the people residing within the hut turn towards the door in unison.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sabo's bored. 'nuff said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have a good time celebrating tonight~ and enjoy the chapter! I had a blast writing it - and it keeps cracking me up even now... :D  
> Cheers!

The cell was grey. No, that wasn’t true. It actually contained various shades of grey – that spot over there was a bit lighter than the one closer to where he sat, leaning against the wall. The clothes were rather retro-style, too. White and black stripes vied for his attention in alternating patterns, along his arms and feet. The cuffs on his feet with the chains that led to the wall were overkill, though, he felt. Didn’t he already have a set attached to his wrists, after all?

Ah.

He was already going mad, wasn’t he? Or was that the crazy that he’d already been capable of from way back before he’d been thrown into this dump of a prison?

Meh.

At least, he knew he’d be out soon. Sabo admitted – to himself, mind, in the quiet of his current solitude and only in the short moments he knew he had to himself before the storm brewing and coming to get him out would arrive – that he may have underestimated the severity of the “entrance” to Impel Down by a few levels. A grimace accompanied the thought. He wouldn’t ever do that again, he vowed to himself.

( _In the back of his mind, a voice that sounded suspiciously like Koala agreed and made him aware of a scolding that he was sure to be in for once he was out and back at the base_ )

… his blond curles had grown long again, he ought to cut them soon. They were starting to take on the dirt that was liberally coating every surface within the little cell he’d been given. The dirt was grey, did he mention that?

The isolation wasn’t doing him any good.

What would Luffy do to stave off boredom? The answer came to him within seconds: Make friends with any and every creature on the same level as him and somehow break out of this cell and Impel Down by using a balloon or something as ludicrous, most probably.

Nah. He couldn’t see himself doing the same, considering most of the criminals on this level ( _and, oh, hadn’t that been a revelation that the rumours about a secret sixth level below the official last fifth had been true all along?_ ) had actually earned their incarceration here and, secondly and most importantly, he wasn’t Luffy. He was equal parts thanking the gods for that one and kind of jealous of his younger brother’s lucky escapes from his various escapades, as well.

What would Ace do in his position?

… yeah, no. While he deeply respected his brother’s decisions and actions, they weren’t for him. One marine in the family was a lot already, but two? Sabo had really missed out on seeing Garp's victory dance when Ace had told him about his choice in career.

… on second thought, he was quite sure he’d averted a coercion into doing the same when he hadn’t been there that day. Lucky him.

A sigh escaped him.

There was only so much time he could fill with random thoughts and thought games until he grew bored of the stuff. His current environment certainly didn’t help matters any.

“Greeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey.” Sabo carefully drew the word out on purpose. He allowed himself a short break, mostly to gather enough air in his lungs, and then,

“Whiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiite.” came next. A brief pause, then

“Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack.” He made sure to draw his jaw down as far as it could go for that one, so it’d create the perfect “ah" sound. What other colour was there?

“Light greeeeeeeeeeey-"

“Oi, genius! Shut up!” his flawless rendition of a grinning clown was rudely interrupted by a neighbouring party pooper. A mischievous smile lit up his face. He wasn’t Luffy, but he’d just found himself a playmate.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Uhm. Well. This is one of the chapters-that-had-to-be-included, mostly for plot-related reasons. Fortunately, the tone of this chapter does not stand for the rest of them.  
> Warnings for: Kidnapping, Forceful Coercion (with physical means mostly) and uhm... well. That's all, methinks? Please mind the tags.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mind the tags for this one.  
> Warnings: Kidnapping, forceful coercion into participating in one's plans and annoyance galore.  
> Have fun reading? Cheers!

His current resting place didn’t allow for a whole lot of movement, at all. Lying in a fetal position on his left side, he feared his limbs might have gone numb a long time ago, had he not trained himself to be used to standing still for long periods for his profession a long time ago. His arms were crossed in front of his face, his body still mildly affected by the drugs he’d been given.

The material of the sack he was occupying scratched harshly against his skin in places he couldn’t at the moment reach to scratch the itch off, but the absolute worst was the seastone cuff resting innocently around his left wrist. His eye twitched in annoyance, having focused sharply on the – dark but recognisable – sight ever since he’d woken up. The draining sensation was hardly one he could ignore, all things considered.

How long had it been since he’d been abducted? How long would it be until he’d be freed? His captors were ignoring him, if the non-answers to his questions and attempts to communicate had not been enough to get any kind of feedback from them. He couldn’t even hear anyone outside his admittedly soft cage. In fact, he could barely hear anything from outside the sack. And weird noises, at that. Sometimes, he thought he could hear steps, but even those only echoed dimly. It was as though something was blocking it – something bigger and thicker than the burlap the sack was made out of that he was imprisoned in.

Moving the sack hadn’t worked, either, not that he hadn’t tried his hardest to make it budge even an inch. Opening it? Heaven knew where that fucking opening was, for he clearly didn’t, not having found one after an exhaustive search.

Yeah. So. The deal he’d been involved in had not been shady in the slightest, this time around. His business partner’s face had even seemed familiar to him!

…

He knew he should have checked where he’d seen that face before. In any other situation, he’d say “Water under the bridge, ey?” and leave it at that but here he allowed himself to make an exception, particularly seeing as he’d not found out what exactly had happened to him after an incredibly deep leap down memory lane to recover barely a smidgen of what had occurred _during_ the meeting.

The ending eluded him.

Thus, he figured he’d been drugged, cuffed, snatched up in a burlap sack and kidnapped.

On the upside, ample time had passed to make his panic at the situation abate by a lot, already. Truly, his annoyance vied for his attention rather more, right now.

His kidnappers ought to have realised that no one would pay a Beri for him. Why on earth was he in a flipping burlap sack? He’d seen slaver ships – oh, he’d crossed a few in his lifetime – and he knew what a Devil Fruit User was worth on the market. As far as he knew, their methods of acquiring their “goods" and the subsequent transportation, however, differed greatly from the rather crude handling of his person.

Logic dictated that meant that this had to be a layman’s kidnapping attempt, with him playing the first victim. An unfortunate side effect was that beginner’s mistakes obviously were made: he was thirsty and did not know how to make that thirst understood to whomever was his kidnapper. Ah, excuse him, kidnappers, plural. An artist like him could not be taken down by one simple noob in the business, especially not one working with burlap sacks as storage devices for their victims. Effing amateurs.

In moments like these, he missed his Earl Grey set dearly.

All of a sudden, light shone in through an opening in the sack that hadn’t been there a second ago and something was tossed in, landing harshly on his nose, then bouncing from there straight into his right hand where he caught it.

Relaxing his hand, he had one blink of an eye to recognise it as the key to the handcuff encircling his wrist before the earth dropped out from underneath him and he lost any kind of balance he might’ve taken for granted.

Rudely, he was deposited on a cold hard stone surface, hitting his back on it with the key still grasped loosely in his hand. Noises returned in their full volume, denoting the room he found himself in as quite big before he slowly, slit-like, blinked open his eyes, acclimatising them to the sudden change from almost complete darkness to the dark but existing lightning.

Where was he?

There were people around him, he noticed. Scratch the where, wasn’t that a Whitebeard insignia on the man’s chest in front of him? A minute later it was covered by what was clearly a marine uniform. What was going on? His eyes travelled up to the man’s face. Wait, hang on, wasn’t that-?

As recognition dawned on him, he was heaved to his feet and dragged along as the group of people split up and he was shoved into a specific direction. The running didn’t do him any good, his breathing coming in gasps and brief bouts of hyperventilating alternating in random patterns. And oh, he had legs. He could feel them again, the pins and needles doing their job of making him aware that a break and calm, slow movements would be rather more welcome right then. They halted abruptly, in a niche in-between two prison cells. Prison cells?

“You can make anything out of your wax, correct?” the rushed question did nothing to help his nerves any. A reluctant nod was drawn out of him.

“Then I want you to make a key.” He was pointed insistently towards one of the two prison cells. Why would he- no, why _should_ he help them do anything around here? As a matter of fact, where even was “here"? The only answer that he got was that they were in Impel Down and if he wanted to get out safely, it would be in his interests to aid and abet in their escape. He’d agreed to the deal, after all, hadn’t he?

To say that Galdino was not amused would be mildly understating his emotional turmoil of a rollercoaster at that moment.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A random marine vessel tailing the Moby Dick has to make a status report.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written on the 2nd of January 2020. This is what happens when you only have snippets written out. I really should know better, but there you go.

There was nothing out of the ordinary to report.

The marine vessel drifted in the ocean, an acceptable distance from the feared Yonko's ship away, the wind was calm and favourable and the sun shining down on them. The Grand Line wasn’t known for long bouts of steady weather, but you shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth, knock on wood and make a cross.

The Moby Dick's occupants didn’t make any move towards them, which greatly calmed the marine ensigns' nerves. It wasn’t easy, trailing a pirate ship, particularly when they were rather unpredictable in their attacks on the ships in pursuit. Fortunately, this marine ship's mission only included monitoring the pirate ship's movements. Not even their superiors would risk another war ship on a whim. And, since the Whitebeards counted amongst the more volatile pirate crews out there, a direct line to notify anyone higher up was essential.

So, it was rather easy to find out about the current state on things.

No, the Whitebeards hadn’t done anything that pointed towards something untoward happening. No, the usual amount of Commanders was present. Well, minus one, with Blamenco having departed on a mission involving visiting his home island ( _if the radio transmissions they had caught earlier that week were to be believed_ ) about five days ago.

( _While it was possible that Blamenco's ship could have reached Impel Down by the time the news of its breach reached this particular marine vessel, none of the superiors believed for a second that Whitebeard would send only one commander to storm the prison, really, he wouldn’t risk his_ sons _like that._ )

( _Especially without the Phoenix accompanying them – the idea was laughable, truly! After all, what could one sole commander do on their own? Certainly, the intruders in Impel Down had to be imposters who were out to frame the Whitebeards for_ their _crimes!_ )

( _ ~~None of them had any idea that it hadn’t been the Whitebeards in charge of the planning but rather the chief of staff of the Revolutionaries who by then had already been incarcerated and was biding his time from within the depths of Impel Down~~_ )

No there really was nothing out of the ordinary to report on their end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On the upside, I have pre-written a wealth of chapters already, so solely judging from the word count? A bit more than half of what I've written in total for this story has been put online so far. Jfyi. ;)  
> Also, we'll be back in the middle of the action by the next chapter, dear readers, so buckle up your seatbelts and expect it to be put online tomorrow B)


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter. Enjoy!

On the Warden’s end, things were looking rather worse than he’d suspected they would. He’d expected to be greeted by a few rowdy prisoners when he’d entered level two of Impel Down, having been called out of the accompaniment of Rear Admiral Portgas D Ace to deal with them. What he had gotten was a distraction from the main act: Whitebeard pirates dressed as marine ensigns.

And what Whitebeard pirates there were!

First Commander of the Whitebeards, Marco, should technically be recognized on sight by any self-respecting marine. In reality, though, the marines stationed at Impel Down had so much less exposure to current wanted posters than the ones anywhere else that they may as well be told last whose bounty had been increased this time of the year.

And forgetting one or two faces when the guys on the posters _had such a big tattoo of their pirate allegiance on their chest_ that made recognizing the faces pretty irrelevant when faced with them is understandable, from a certain point of view, as well.

It was way less understandable when said persons were successful at infiltrating the marines, however. He knew he should have been there at the last inspection of the newcomers, darn it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To all my subscribers: I'm sorry for the false update, I had to rearrange a few things a bit '^_^


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Right in the middle of the Impel Down Breakout, Ace can't help but be mildly impressed, thoroughly confused (albeit only for a few moments or so) and oh so very pissed off at the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just opened up the word doc for this mammoth of a fanfiction... it's 21 pages long already O_o and growing! :D  
> Settle in, have yourselves some cookies and enjoy the read!

Loathe as he was to admit it, his brother’s plan was genius. In light of recent unearthed information that he’d gotten to know last-minute, namely what felt like five minutes ago – and why was it that he was the _last_ _one_ to know things in this crooked patchwork family of theirs, be they important or not? – right before all hell had broken loose in this human version of the same place, he had to concede the ingenuity and cleverness that he was faced with.

The revolutionary’s plan followed along these lines: be arrested. Stay arrested. Get brother out of Impel Down along with fellow revolutionaries and tell said brother right at the start of the escapade ( _while said brother was, predictably, visiting him in his cell in Impel Down because said brother couldn’t freaking keep his darned curiosity about the scheming blond’s fantasy plan that had been behind this whole arrest-me story contained_ ) that, while their youngest brother hadn’t yet commenced his journey into the world by then, the marines had still found out about his biological father’s identity and were subsequently planning to execute the fire logia while staging a huge show to tell the world just how he’d undermined them by becoming a Rear Admiral.

He was. So. Done. with the world at that moment.

Then the roof caved in with an inordinately accurate sense for timing and things went sideways for a bit.

Fellow revolutionaries came streaming out the opening and with them a few rather interesting characters. Sabo had managed to get out of his cell and into a position of control over the situation in under a minute and seemingly without any outside help and was by now leading the throng out of Impel Down. They’d met a couple of marines but without the Warden who got held up a few levels up when accompanying Ace down to the secret one, it was child’s play detaining them.

All that left only two more things to consider: how to get outside and where to go from there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right, so, this is probably the moment where you readers should learn about my most nefarious plan behind the whole "24 days posting of chapters"... due to a bout of confusion on some of my family members' parts, I am the proud owner of a surplus of at least one Advent Calendar. I'm currently munching on the 12th piece of chocolate out of that one, as I've earned it for posting this chapter. *g* Happy Day, y'all! Cheers!  
> Also: I'm gonna upload another oneshot a bit later tonight, so check out my profile for more along those lines tomorrow, in case you're curious ;)


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> News travels fast. Only took him about… 9 chapters to get caught up? XD

Sengoku had been drinking tea when the message arrived.

“Impel Down has been broken into.”

Six words.

Gently, he put the cup down before steeling his gaze, facing the messenger and demanding the full story including any and all details.

Six innocent words.

The World Government won’t be happy. He needed to ascertain that they could catch and detain anyone and everyone involved in the success of the break-in. And then exchange all the old personnel for new ones. The headache that would hit him soon wouldn’t be a light one, he felt.

Six innocent words that spelled so much trouble for them all.

What made them even more troublesome was that there had been no warning, no announcement, nothing. Just the fact: the walls of Impel Down had been stormed. Damage control was what they needed direly now.

The timing was good, he had to give them that. Any high-ranking officials were strewn about the known world chasing criminals, except for two or three to oversee the security detail and organization of the detainment and execution of the Pirate King’s son that was planned to take place a week from then.

Could it be that-? No. Nothing had been leaked, as far as he was aware. The Rogue-Element-Turned-Rear-Admiral didn’t suspect a thing, or his underlings would have mentioned that in their report.

Had anything been leaked, Garp would have done something incredibly Garp. Yes, “Garp” was an adjective, at least in Sengoku's opinion it ought to be. That man did enough on a normal weekday that anything extraordinary he did really ought to get categorized as “Garp".

While ruminating that, he got all his reasonable questions answered.

“Who broke in?” – “Unknown, sir.”

“How many?” – “Unclear, sir.” A sigh was expelled at that.

“Who was last seen close to Impel Down outside of those who worked there?” – “Warlord Doflamingo and his crew, Vice Admiral Yamakaji, Rear Admiral-“

“Pirates! Not marines. Pirates.” A pause, then. “Civilians. What ships were last seen drifting close to Impel Down?”

Doflamingo would not go against the known order of the world like that. Not if he and his business could stay under the radar as it was – and, yes, Sengoku knew. There was little he didn’t, what with the secret investigation service at his fingertips. Admirals wouldn’t break into Impel Down, either. What would the point of that even be?

“Uhm. As far as I know, a World Noble’s ship passed by there, I’ll look into which one it was as soon as I can, sir! And, uhm. Pirates? Well, there was an account of a battle between marine personnel and uhm, the… Black Shark Pirates? Yes, them. In nearby waters.”

Those rookies were not nearly strong enough to enter the range of suspects. A World Noble was known for being a rather lazy, albeit sleazy show-off, though any Wolrd Noble most certainly wouldn’t go against the system that granted them as much freedom and as many rights as it did. Sengoku briefly toyed with the idea of a World Noble going against the World Government, then dismissed the idea entirely. Yeah, right. And the Pirate King was still alive. So much for that notion.

“Were there any notable pirates seen anchored at or passing through Sabaody lately?” As a strategic point for gathering supplies, Sabaody was close enough to Impel Down to make sense for a future breaker-in to settle for first. Sengoku was nothing if not a strategist.

“Well, uhm. There was a rumour that the Whitebeards have docked at Sabaody, but that’s not been confirmed yet.”

No. The Buddha made a mental note of this little tidbit in the back of his head, but he remained skeptical about Newgate’s involvement in the break-in until he’d get secure confirmation of that. The Yonko wouldn’t dare going against the World Government like that, would he?

He’d stayed clear of the biggest marine hubs so far just for that reason: were he to openly antagonize them, he and his crew (his bloody _fleet_ of a crew) would see themselves hunted down to the ends of the known world. As a captain, he wouldn’t risk that.

Would he?


	14. Chapter 14

A whale-like ship drifted steadily through the vast ocean. The sea was quiet, the waves gentle and the sun only partly obscured by light grey clouds. Frankly, the atmosphere on the Moby Dick was rather calm and easy-going.

Nothing hinted at the Whitebeards' involvement in what could possibly be called the coup of the century a few decades down the line.

From afar, the strongest man alive was surrounded by his most trusted, as always. Edward Newgate could be seen sunbathing, while the Phoenix was ostensibly asleep nearby, with a newspaper draped over his face and upper body.

Five other Commanders were on deck, as well, easily recognizable via telescope by the marine ship that was tailing them, a safe distance away: Commander Vista was busy managing fighting exercises, while Commanders Atmos and Kingdew were debating about something or the other close by. The Geisha-like visage of Commander Izo was watching the fight.

Indeed, the illusion was perfect. No one was suspecting a thing. While this kind of subterfuge and distraction wasn’t usually their modus operandi, pirates like them normally much more used to direct options of attack, they could make an exception this time. Their captain had made a deal, after all. A brother for a brother, wasn’t it? As for now, all they had to do was wait for three of their brothers to safely return.

The newspaper covered up what the marines weren’t supposed to see. Asking Marco to provide a pair of trousers and shoes and Thatch to use some hair dye on the unfortunate double that had been volunteered by losing a more appropriately “piratey” version of scissors-paper-rock ( _invented by Thatch and Haruta in a bout of boredom and alcohol_ ) was the easiest thing to do.

Funnily enough, Izo's position was easier to fill: one brave member of Izo's division actually came forth to play the Commander for the duration of his absence. Izo took it upon himself to create a great liking on the other’s face and that was that.

Haruta's absence wasn’t as noticeable, seeing as the Commander rarely left Navigation. Same for Blamenco, who liked spending time underneath deck more than he did above.

Thus, no real First Mate was there to scold Thatch, so the chef had thrown himself into his work with the aim of creating a “welcome back”-feast that’d surpass everything that came before. It was supposed to be a “welcome to the crew”-feast, as well, after all, so he went all out.

No 1st, 6th, 12th and 16th Commander was there to orchestrate the 1st, 6th,12th and 16th division, so the members' reserve leaders had an indefinite period to show their talents, loathe as some were to do so in their actual Commander's stead.

Marco, Izo, Blamenco and Haruta's absences were felt in more ways than one, but they had been the most obvious choice when it came to infiltrating Impel Down.

* * *

** Thatch's Version of Rock-Paper-Scissors is called: **

Marine-PirateKing-Pirate-Civilian.

Marine trumps Pirate King because they executed Gol D Roger.

Pirate King trumps Pirate via his knowledge of One Piece and Raftel and where to find them both.

Pirate trumps Civilian because whose life is better and freer, anyways?

And Civilian trumps Marine because some civilians are revolutionaries, fbut marines don’t know which ones.

So Civilian only trumps Marine every second round.

Marine sometimes trumps Pirates, but only every third round.

Every first and second round Pirate trumps Marine, too.

I think it should be mentioned that alcohol most definitely was not involved in this game’s creation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Over 1000 hits for this story alone O_o and more than 10k words (about 24 pages) written. Woah. Just... woah. *sparkly eyed*


	15. Chapter 15

The tunnel caved in. But he wasn’t worried – he wasn’t! – because Ace was on the other side with Iva-chan's fans and the Whitebeards _and the Warden_ -

No.

He couldn’t think like that. They’d be fine. The Whitebeards knew he’d been with Ace – or, rather, that Ace had been one of those they were meant to rescue now, too ( _Plans changed, deals were adapted and if the Yonko crew couldn’t have been expected to keep up with them, he wouldn’t have chosen them for the deal in the first place. You didn’t become a Yonko crew without throwing a certain degree of flexibility, adaptability to plans changing at a whim and improvisation skills into the mix_ ). So, he simply had to have faith that they’d make it until the first level of the prison unharmed.

... the lifts were that way, as well, weren’t they? How much weight could a phoenix carry if they managed to fix the lift cabins into staying where they were right then in an unexpected but ( _from the Revolutionaries' point of view_ ) very predictable power outage?

One of the maintenance rooms that were strewn throughout the prison so as to keep infiltrators from affecting the whole of it at once should be located nearby, as well... and, well, Sabo wasn’t the one who had figured out that while the rooms weren’t connected as such, the parts of the prison they were linked to weren’t altogether disconnected, in their entirety, but he certainly knew how to make use of that knowledge.

In short, it all depended on which maintenance room you started in to quite successfully throw wrenches into the marines' plans. The one on the fourth floor was as good as any to get things going.

Thus, aided by the extensive pre-planning legwork and map-making he’d been involved in for getting Iva-chan – and, once he’d known about the recruitment the Revolutionary had managed to get going from within the prison, his cohorts – out of the prison ( _yes, that had originally been what his mission had been about. Until he’d tweaked it to include Ace in that and, well, who could blame him for getting a D involved and not knowing the outcome except for that one couldn’t plan for D's and their ways of thinking at all?_ ), he confidently led the way to where he knew they’d find the maintenance room.

Ah, D's. He loved his brothers, but sometimes the D curse and their unpredictability did not help matters, at all. Not that the three brothers had been predictable, like, ever. His decision to join the Revolutionaries hadn’t been predictable in the least, either.

When he’d chosen to leave with Dragon, said goodbye to his brothers and told them it was getting too dangerous for him to stay – he couldn’t see his biological father leave them alone and feared that he might even send _assassins after his two brothers_ – they’d understood. They’d reluctantly let him leave (“ _and stay in touch, yeah? If we don’t hear from you in the next three months we’re going after you!” – Luffy had been inconsolable, crying tears and snot and clinging to Ace who had_ let him) and he’d managed to make it seem as though he’d been abducted by the Revolutionaries, with Dragon’s help.

Yet, still, for their respective paths to work, he’d had to become “Dragon’s protégé” and pull a rug over “Ace and Luffy’s brother", for safekeeping. No one was to know, for if they did, he’d doom Ace and Luffy with his simple existence. Their lives could be held over him like knives that could fall and leave him riddled with holes, sawn straight through the heart.

They were important and he’d be damned if he let them come to harm just because of what he was, because of who he was – the Revolutionary agenda mattered zilch in the grander scheme of things to him, should those two's lives be threatened because of their connection to him.

They had their own lives to lead – no one else’s actions should have to be held over them and be used against them, that was cheating! If they were to be judged, they ought to be judged for their own sins. Once Sabo had gotten wind of the World Government's knowledge about Gol D Roger's son ( _Seriously, Garp, you could have smelled that one coming against the wind, what the_ hell _was their grandfather thinking that he was so sure no one would figure it out in due time?_ ) and their plans to eradicate Roger's line soon, he’d known what to do.

Namely, get Ace the heck outta the marines and worry about repercussions later.

Naturally, he hadn’t counted on his brother paying him a visit _while he was incarcerated_ in Impel Down, although he knew just how to use that in their favour. After all, where else to let Ace know of the Government's knowledge about his biological heritage than through the bars leading to his cell in a damp, murky, sore-on-the-eyes grey marine prison? What better place was there, keeping in mind the D in Ace's name?

Arriving at the maintenance room proved anticlimactic, all considered. The guards found their way to Lala-land far easier than he’d counted on, proving the three days in prison hadn’t dulled his skills nor his senses any. Ah, well. On to getting the show going and the lifts hopefully stuck in position for an undetermined amount of time.

With the help of Iva-chan’s recruits, they managed to do so within a few minutes. Having, unpredictably, a bit of free time in which they could gather their wits and prepare for the next leg of the journey towards the sea level, they tried to relax their muscles a bit, doing stretching exercises and trying for some small talk.

Until, that was, Iva-chan decided to get to the heart of the matter and talk to him directly.

“Sabo-kun, I’ve got a question for you. I get that you’re making a move for Dragon-san and I’m happy you’ve come to get me out of here… but… I feel that you’ve been preoccupied for a lot of this escape. What’s wrong?”

Ah. He’d thought he’d get farther until Iva-chan would mention his mission’s other primary focus. A smirk in anticipation for the faces that his colleagues-in-arms would sport once they knew his reason for slightly derailing the mission grew on his lips.

Time to drop a bombshell.

“Let me tell you about Dragon’s son’s older brother.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well... a slightly longer chapter than the last ones. Hope you enjoyed it! :D


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter ^_^' Enjoy!

A pirate, a revolutionary and a marine met in Impel Down. That sounded exactly like something Thatch would say. And while internally Marco groaned in exhausted exasperation that the chef and Yonko crew's self-appointed prankster king had followed him in his head, externally the Whitebeards’ First Mate only raised an eyebrow.

“Who is that?” came the expected question from Haruta. The younger commander had been a bit busy fending off marines when the revolutionary they’d originally set out to free – and who’d already been happily outside the bars of his cell by the time they’d caught up to him – had quite unceremoniously dumped the Rear Admiral _who had arrested him in the first place_ on them and ordered them to keep _said freaking Rear Admiral_ the hell safe or else the deal was off. Predictably, it took less than half a minute for Haruta to recognise the young marine.

“Wait, isn’t that-?” – “Yes. Yes, it is.”

“Why is he here? Where’s-?” – “New objective.” Marco was quick to cut him off and bring him up to speed, “We’re here to babysit.” And if he happened to insult abovementioned marine in his earshot while he was at it, that was only because of the headache-inducing blond that their captain had deigned fit to make a deal with, never mind that the deal was incredibly convoluted as well as dangerous and the probability for the revolutionary keeping his part at less than fifty percent.

There was no way a son of Gol D Roger's was still alive after all these years, not after the marines had done all they could to eradicate every trace of his legacy.

Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1111 hits! I feel like I ought to celebrate that... *g*


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Koala realises just what she signed up for.  
> New boat, who dis?

She shouldn’t have been surprised, really, Koala thought to herself, when the amount of supplies they had on very their ship dwindled in front of her eyes at a speed she and her colleagues had been quite frankly unprepared for. At least they’d had the sense to stock up at the Baratie on their way there. At this rate, they’d have to warn the cooks to prepare them for their ship’s second stop there on the way back. After all, it was the polite thing to do, right? To warn normal people that a person with a D in their name was coming to devour their food? Koala wasn’t sure if that hadn’t been the meaning of that letter all along.

Looking at Sabo's younger brother, she didn’t know where all the food was going, to be honest. Hadn’t he had a stomach that had been bulging nigh a second ago? A brief pause was all that was needed to return him to the state he’d been in before eating all the food they’d put in front of him. Fortunately for them, they’d had the bright idea to stock up on a **_lot_** of food before coming there – knowing Sabo, they’d thought his brother might have a similar metabolism. They just hadn’t realised it could be worse.

So much worse.

On the whole, the younger boy had taken them essentially kidnapping him because of his older brother’s orders in stride. When they’d told him of Sabo's current mission including both him and another brother of theirs ( _she figured as much from Sabo's notes that he’d left behind_ ), he hadn’t batted an eye but once she’d mentioned Sabo's exact wording of the message to Luffy he’d written for her to say, the black-haired boy ( _he was what, 12? 14?_ ) had, pouting, conceded that Sabo and his colleagues might have the right of it.

Oh, they hadn’t even a smidgen of an idea on what exactly endangered the boy so much as to have him be extracted from his home situation be the only valid plan acceptable to Sabo, but Koala would trust in her partner’s judgement.

...

He better have thought things through for once or so help her she’d have his hide.

“Man overboard!” came from across the ship. Koala frowned in consternation. Wasn’t everyone accounted for and present? Quickly, she made a beeline to the edge of the ship from which she could clearly see a small rowboat, with a young guy aboard. Curiously, Luffy peered over the ship’s edge, as well. She had to keep an eye on that one. If he was Sabo's brother, then there was a high probability of shenanigans occurring, with him involved in them or not.

Oh, no. Wait. That was an orange-haired girl in there, dressed in trousers and wearing a blue-white striped sailor's shirt. What came next was one of the most predictable conversation starters during their journey:

“Permission to come aboard?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Awwww, chapter 17 already....17 is my favourite number! :D  
> So this story has as many bookmarks as it has chapters by now.... nice!!!  
> Hope you enjoyed it~


	18. Chapter 18

A lone seagull made its way through the sky. This particular seagull was responsible for a number of newspapers and magazines which resided in the bag hanging around its neck, waiting to be distributed, and took its job very seriously. All sorts of things could happen and make it lose focus on its journey to its next destination, so it had to be vigilant. The hat denoting it as a News Coo was its greatest treasure. Spotting a ship down in the sea, it steered its wings downward and prepared for landing.

It stuck the landing, alighting perfectly on the railing. Not long thereafter, one of the humans on board ambled over, pulling a money satchel from the depths of his coat. Ah, that was the one who would consistently scratch his head a bit absent-mindedly while he paid the News Coo what it was due and read the paper. Withdrawing the correct amount of money, the News Coo attentively watched his hand drop it into the money bag that it had been provided with before the hand was pulled away briefly, moving towards its head...

... aaaaaaaand there it was.

Content because it got the headscratching that it felt it had most definitely deserved, the News Coo mused that it could spend a few more moments in the headscratcher's company before flying on.

Huh. The man’s eyes roved over the first page's headlines for the third time now. Was he stuck? Was it something in his eyes? Unobtrusively, the News Coo lensed over at his eyes. Eh, it wasn’t paid nearly enough to try being a doctor to humans. With another contented sigh, the seagull closed its eyes and went back to enjoying the man’s administrations.

That was why the seagull did not notice the man’s eyes being blown wide open all of a sudden in noticeable alarm. It did, however, jump when the man shouted a loud “Koala!” towards the door leading to the inner workings of the ship before running just there and disappearing from view.

Forlorn upon having been left behind that dramatically, all the News Coo could do was let out a sad, lonely little “coo?” as it was left sitting on the railing all by itself.

A moment passed, then it remembered its primary mission and took off in search of its next clients.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of my favourite chapters to write so far - along with all the chapters with Sabo in them :D Hope you liked it!  
> Edit: first off, we've reached 10k words for this fic! O_o Woah! I kinda was not prepared for that... but yeah. On top of that, I've uploaded 25k words in total already on AO3 with this chapter. So, like, two things to celebrate already. Then there's the hit count - which reached 2k hits for all my stories just today, as well! I'm thiiiiiiiiiiiiiis happy about all those things: =^_^= I could dance! In fact, I may well do that. *dances a jig* :D


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is extra short because I've got a headache and I'm a dumbass who didn't think I'd get this far. Thus, today's "chapter" was written today, all of two minutes ago, in fact. Enjoy!

The headline of the newspaper read:

"BREAKOUT AT IMPEL DOWN!"

The author did not give out a lot of names at all. Neither was mentioned what groups exactly were involved, nor if it had been a mixture of several. ( _which it was_ ).

Unexpectedly, it was a rather descriptive account of recent additions to the prison that the readers' attention was drawn to, as well as past successes at detaining pirates and so-called "unfavourable elements" that had nothing to do with the prison - well, except for their subsequent incarceration there.

A certain Rear Admiral was mentioned and lauded as a hero for successfully arresting an incredibly hard-to-catch individual, as was his grandfather.

At the end followed a short warning to concerned, upstanding citizens worldwide that, while the situation wasn't under marine control yet, it would soon be.

All in all, it was a rather unusual report that had found its way into the globally distributed newspaper and it got several, quite different, reactions from the people involved.

Notable was one in particular, namely the one from a man who ended up spitting out his tea all over the important marine documents in his office. There was probably a fifty-fifty chance that he could salvage them, but for the moment he had different problems on his mind. They were seventeen years old by then, but boy did they give him a headache at the worst possible times.

This man had greying hair and preferred wearing shirts with a flowery print over his uniform but we don't always get what we want, do we? No, and he had the feeling that he would not be getting his dream of having another marine official in the family for all too much longer at all.

He just wanted _one_ , dammit!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written on the 11.01.2020.


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They're out, they're safe. Now comes the fun part. *g*

To think that he’d been a bargaining chip in his brother’s plan was insulting, frankly. And it had worked out so well, too!

Groaning, he rested his head in his hands and leaned forward in the dimly lit chamber. His blond menace of a younger brother grinned at him, utterly unrepentant.

They were sitting in a Commander’s cabin of the ship, wood surrounding them comfortingly on all sides, and the waves sounding and swaying familiarly outside, although the view was obscured mostly by dark rainclouds. A single candle was illuminating their little temporary sanctuary away from the mayhem that the world was attempting to throw at them.

Garp was sure to have had his conniption over with by now, wasn’t he? A marine Admiral had had to sign his papers to allow him entrance into Impel Down and, oh, he’d taken the most obvious choice to speed up the process a tiny little bit and visit his ( ~~ _secret, adopted_~~ ) brother. Beaurocracy and its loopholes never failed to astound him, frankly. On the downside, that meant that the old coot was uncomfortably up-to-date when it came to what he was doing.

And how on earth had the Revolutionary roped the Whitebeards into helping them both he would probably never understand. The blond had always had a silver tongue on him that managed to get the three of them out of trouble just as often as it got them into it.

Lensing through his fingers at the ex-noble, he regarded him warily. Who knew what more he had up his sleeve?

Oh, Ace was uncomfortably aware that he had about half a day left before his biological father’s identity would be revealed to the world, along with a twisted version of how he had purposefully infiltrated the marines and climbed the ranks that would show the World Government and the marines in a good light. But had Sabo or his team tampered with that or not was the big question? Depending on the answer, he’d have to consider what he’d let slip in front of their allies.

Eyeing him speculatively, he let the agreeable silence hang in the air between them. It had been a while since they had last had a moment to catch up in peace.

The grin didn’t lose any of its splendour, nor did the good mood the blond was sporting abate any. Way too mischievous, that one. A matching grin formed on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seeing as there was a kinda serious family crisis just today, I'm really glad I finished writing this chapter and the next already in 2019. ^_^'


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sabo & Ace have to attend a meeting with the Whitebeards. And possibly explain themselves.  
> (if they care to)  
> (Ace sure doesn't)  
> (Sabo's the one who talks the most, though)

The meeting with Whitebeard and his commanders was going smoother than anticipated. Ace lensed over at his brother for a hint of what else he’d had up his sleeves. The blond didn’t disappoint.

“Soooooo. Impel Down. That’s not a holiday resort I could recommend, really.” He scrunched up his nose in obvious distaste. “The decor wasn’t much to my liking, to be honest.” Neither were the hosts, Ace wagered, rolling his eyes exaggeratedly at his brother’s surface-level criticism. What had he expected? A serious debriefing, with Sabo as the one leading it? Yaaaah, no. The details didn’t matter to the mischief-maker much, he knew.

The blond did care for a good story, though.

And if there was one thing he was bound to be good at, it was telling one. As Sabo launched into a retelling – _with a few changes to make him look better, because, honestly? Who_ could _tell? Who **would** tell? A side-glance told Ace that he was to keep his mouth shut, goddammit, Sabo was the cool hero here who’d saved his ass_ – of what had happened in the marine prison, Ace took the time to scrutinise the Whitebeards present and try to think through what Sabo's next course of action would be.

After the “big reveal”, naturally.

The fire logia wasn’t under any illusion that the knowledge about his biological heritage would survive the afternoon meeting. Just as he’d finished that thought, he dreaded heritage was mentioned.

“And what of Roger’s son?” one of the commanders asked – the pointy moustached one, and although Ace didn’t care enough to remember their names, their appearances were another matter entirely. They were sporting some of the outrageously weirdest looks that he’d ever seen. At least the Geisha-lookalike was somewhat normally dressed.

Sabo paused in his report. A minuscule smile drew one corner of his mouth up. Oh oh. Ace _knew_ that smile, it spelled trouble.

“Well. That’s an important question, isn’t it?” A deflection? That meant the blond was trying to figure out exactly how much retribution he’d be in for if he answered the question correctly. The ex-Rear Admiral side-eyed his brother speculatively and was surprised to see the look returned. His suspicions went up a notch.

“Well. If you’d rather not say anything in the marine’s presence, we can understand that. Vista and I could give him a tour of the Moby, if you’d like – while you finish this meeting in peace?” Clearly, the one who’d spoken was questioning why the blond had brought him to the meeting in the first place, if he’d not wanted the ex-marine to know stuff. It was the one with the royal name – Queen? King? – who had spoken this time.

Sabo's smile grew, while he fended off the well-meant attempt to “babysit the marine” with a dismissive wave of his hand. ( _When Ace had first heard the commander with the strange hairdo – he’d dubbed him ananas-head in his mind – call their mission that back in Impel Down, he’d been utterly offended and indignant. He wasn’t some kid to_ babysit _, dammit! He was a Rear Admiral and had gone and earned the position fair and square! ... well, ex-Rear Admiral now, he supposed._ )

“You know, I’d like to extend our deal for a little while longer, if that’s possible.” He’d spoken to Whitebeard directly, disregarding the Yonko's underlings for the moment. The big, moustached captain took one long, scrutinizing look at the Revolutionary, meeting him gaze for gaze. His eyes looked contemplative, calculating.

“What do you have in mind?” Ace noted what he didn’t say. The “son" the white-haired captain had tacked on at the end of what felt like every second sentence said to one of his commanders was conspicuously absent.

“I’d like to offer an exchange. Seeing as we’ve currently got a surplus of one ex-Rear Admiral, I’d say we extend the deal to include him, shall we?” Ace got side-eyed speculatively, again, and pointedly did not like it, nor outwardly react to it.

“You take good care of him for a week, give him food and a place to sleep, and I’ll personally make sure Roger’s son will be there when we meet again at the end of this week.” What was he, a _pet_? The ex-Rear Admiral could feel a twitch develop in his left eye, even before the rest caught up to him. Oi! He wasn’t some luggage that his brother could just put aside like that! What, did Sabo plan on him staying on the Whitebeards' ship for a _week_?

Yes, yes he did, he learned when Sabo went on to explain that he’d be doing damage control and deal with the fallout of the break in. The Revolutionary Army was prepared to take the credit for that one: they’d make themselves the marine's targets for the time being. In exchange for that, all that Sabo as their representative would ask for was “free board and room" for _one marine_ – that was only appropriate, wasn’t it? After all they’d done and been through, _together_?

It was at that point that Ace realised that his brother was not, in fact, planning on revealing his real identity to anyone, right then.

...

He followed that realisation with an eloquent “Wait, what?” but didn’t know how to go on from there.

It turned out he didn’t have to. Sabo simply softened his eyes a smidgen – unnoticeable to anyone who hadn’t grown up with him and dammit but he didn’t want to be _pitied_ for his heritage – and threw him a bone by saying “Later." in response to his turmoil.

“Later", when they didn’t have more than a dozen curious pairs of eyes resting on them.

“Later”, while Ace wasn’t trying in vain to play catch-up to the blond's deals with a freaking Yonko – and why couldn’t it have been _Shanks_ he’d chosen?

“ _Later_ ", where in the dubious privacy of the chamber they’d been given, Sabo finally revealed the original deal he’d made with the Whitebeards to him.

“ _Later_ " were his fears temporarily assuaged as Sabo told him that he’d sit on his knowledge for a week more if Ace didn’t want it to be known yet – and he’d have a week to plan a reveal of it on his terms, not on anyone else’s.

“ _Later_ " was the time for Ace to learn that while a lot of the higher-ups in the marines knew of his inherited last name – _probably all of them by now, let’s be realistic here_ – they couldn’t yet smoothly turn the public’s opinion of him into the negative without facing repercussions, themselves.

In the end, once the meeting adjourned, Ace actually wasn't quite sure if he was looking forward to or dreading the "Later" that Sabo had mentioned.


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 22 already O_O  
> Woah, I didn't know I could be this consistent B) noice!  
> Enjoy this one - only two more to follow and then this story is officially finished o_o =^_^=

The two were trouble personified, weren’t they? First they somehow successfully broke both into and out of Impel Down, then the Whitebeards found out that the World Government and the marine’s top secret agency had their hands in the endeavour and now these two spry young lads had found themselves a temporary safe haven on the Moby Dick while the navigators on the ship did their best to figure out a course that the marines wouldn’t butt in on.

Oh, the strongest man in the world didn’t have any illusions about just how much of this mission had been planned beforehand. Exactly how much of it could have been planned for, anyways? One D was bound to bring a certain element of surprise into the mixture that frankly no one could have been properly prepared for.

( _Was it an unexpected development that he’d started to think of the Revolutionary they’d made that original deal with as an honorary D?_ )

( _Clearly, he made the cut, what with his proclivity for mischief and his preference for disturbing the known order of the world_ )

( _Ah, if Roger could see his old rival now, making peace shattering deals about his son and the world’s most impenetrable prison_ )

Good times, good times.

And, at least they’d returned his sons safe and sane. Well, more or less. No one on his ship could claim to be entirely sane, what with all the usual chaos that made up their family in the day-to-day life of piracy. Ah, speaking of.

The banquet was about to begin. A grin formed underneath his moustache as he thought to the delicious feast that would soon be laid out for them to enjoy. Being the captain, he’d had the ( _in the eyes of his nurses “dubious"_ ) honour of test tasting quite a few of the delicacies soon to be served. In his humble opinion, the fourth division had outdone themselves, Thatch most of all.


	23. Chapter 23

“Hi Sabo! Hi Ace! I’m on a ship!”

They closed their eyes in reluctant amusement.

“We know, Luffy.” The answer to their affirmative came promptly.

“Did Koala tell you? She’s Sabo's nakama, isn’t she?” They could hear the pout in his voice. Ace huffed a laugh. “I know we said we needed to be seventeen to set out but it’s not cheating, it’s not! I’m sailing because Sabo told her to come get me!”

His voice was cut off by a female one. “Sabo, you _owe_ me. Big time!” an aborted attempt at staying diplomatic yielded two more half-sentences that were less an explanation of what was going on than an expression of her feelings. “You didn’t tell me! He can **_eat_**!!!” All that told the two older brothers was that obviously Koala didn’t know Luffy yet. He wouldn’t have cared had she straight out told them he was devouring and thus depleting the ship’s food supplies singlehandedly, but it did make for a more amusing delivery of the (old) news.

Ace and Sabo shared a look. Sabo's lips curled onto a smile, teasing and incredibly fond. “Oh, can he now? I hadn’t realised human beings needed that...say, does he drink, too?”

Ace only shook his head, tired of the blond's sarcasm and word games already. He dragged a hand over his face. Slowly, just so his brother would get that annoyed little wrinkle at the outer edge of his left eye... ah, there it was.

Hiding a grin behind his hand, he let the blue-eyed Revolutionary handle Luffy for the time being. A loud shout broke into his musings, “Grrrrrr! Sabo, you-" ah, right. He’d let him handle Luffy _and_ the girl. She was his partner, wasn’t she? Sabo could deal with her.

Meanwhile, Ace turned to look at the sea. No matter how many times he did that, it never failed to enchant him. Oddly reminiscent of the room he’d woken up in when he’d first woken on the Moby Dick, the small chamber was sparsely decorated. It held a bunk bed, a crate useable as a makeshift table and little else. It did have a window, though, through which he could see the calming waves, lulling him into a sense of safety he wasn’t quite sure he could trust in.

A brother for a brother, wasn’t it?

The deal Sabo had entered with the Whitebeards centered on him and his willingness to change allegiances. Sometimes it was scary how well the blond could read him and predict certain outcomes to his plans hingeing on him agreeing to them.

They had a bit of a break before going into that meeting with the Whitebeards. Sabo had comandeered a Den Den Mushi as soon as he came aboard and kidnapped Ace from his very important nap. So, here they were, making a social call while the captain and the commanders got themselves to the meeting room.

His week with the Whitebeards had been... entertaining, to say the least. Ex-marine that he was, it had come as a bit of a culture shock that he did have a background of stealing things. The jungle clearly didn’t help matters any, once he’d mentioned he’d grown up in one.

He smirked. The meeting would be fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Family crisis is still going on so I'm sorry if the quality kinda suffered from that... but as long as the chapter’s halfway up to my standards and the challenge gets done, I’m good. After the challenge is done, I’ll let this story rest for a bit and then pretty it up a bit for you, dearest readers. ;D (no worries, I won’t scratch anything or the like – I’m more likely to add stuff, things and paragraphs. Potentially pages.)
> 
> In any case, I’m definitely gonna take a bit of a break until I’ll post stuff/update stuff on AO3 again. Sorry for that but as long as the family stuff’s still going on, I’d rather take a bit of time off. It’s not cool, altogether.
> 
> Hope you're having a better time of it at the moment - and that you enjoyed the chapter ;)


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story has grown to become a 30 page monster in word. Today's the 16.01.2020 and I've only just finished writing this chapter. This story alone had more than 1690 hits so far - tomorrow's the 17th, I can't wait till I see it had 1700 ;D  
> Also, with this chapter I've cracked the 30k total word count mark for all of my stories put together on AO3 - the exact word count's 30303 - which is an awesome number, I feel! ^_^ and on top of that, even though I haven't cracked the 15k word mark for this story yet, a bonus chapter is in the process of being put together currently. So you can anticipate at least one more chapter ;) to be added sometime later.  
> I think it's amazing that at the end of the 24-chapter-challenge I got 24 reviews for this story alone :D and almost a hundred Kudos, as well! Thank you!  
> Hope you'll like this chapter! Happy reading, y'all!

The commanders were munching on popcorn when they entered the room. Ace had to do a doubletake at that. Yep, popcorn bowls of various sizes were liberally decorating the grand table in the middle of the meeting room and all kinds of flavours littered the air. He wrinkled his nose, as yet undecided whether he should find the amalgamation of smells repugnant or… interesting.

“What a party. And you only thought to get the two of us now? I’m disappointed.” His brother, ever the quick talker, had no reservations and loudly projected his voice so that it could be heard even at the far end of the room, where the captain sat, right beside the first mate. And to think that out of the two of them Sabo had been the one who’d enjoyed a noble upbringing up to a certain age… rude.

For lack of a better, more appropriate reaction, his hands twitched, on the verge of doing something he might regret later, like tackling his brother for being this impolite to the people who were kind enough to host them on their ship.

They were doing that, at least.

Within two days’ time, the Moby Dick had gone from “enemy territory” to “potential safe haven” in his mind. They’d even let him into the communications room and given him the option of using a Den Den Mushi to call whomever he wanted to call. That… wasn’t what he’d thought they’d do to people who were former marines and presumably could still be spies for the justice-loving folk.

Whitebeard himself was surprisingly tolerant, he’d found out, once he’d jumped over his own shadow to go up to the man and ask him exactly what his status on the ship was for now – how he could make himself useful to them, for lack of anything productive to do on his own initiative.

“Awww, no worries! There’s lots of popcorn and snacks left over for you!” The pompadour-ed man ( _Thatch, that’s Thatch the chef who’d provided him with a warm meal personally on his second day of staying on the Moby_ )

“Nice!” the blond-haired menace exclaimed and promptly claimed one of the more normal-looking bowls for himself. Was that “salty” written on there in huge, red lettering? Ah, so the flavours were written on the sides of the bowls. That made things easier. Chickenscrawl though it was, it remained barely legible even to his eyes.

It seemed Sabo only just cared to remember a smidgen of his manners, for he said clearly, “Thanks for the food!” before tucking in and munching away.

Ace closed his eyes in exasperation. Wasn’t this supposed to be a meeting? Weren’t they supposed to discuss serious matters here? Wasn’t his heritage supposed to come to light and they all exclaim in disbelief before having him walk the plank?

He paused his thoughts. Well, maybe not.

The thing was, within that week? Ace had gotten to know the men and women who made up Newgate’s sons and daughters a bit better. Moreover, he’d caught bits and pieces of discussions and speculations about the matter of Gol D Roger’s son and the deal the Whitebeards – or, rather, Edward Newgate as their captain – had entered with the Revolutionary. Apparently, quite a few members of the crew had seen Gol D Roger live and in the flesh and… not been altogether repulsed by him?

Out of all those caught up bits and pieces of information, he inferred that… well, it was tough to even so much as think it, but… possibly, this was the one crew where… where Ace, as Gol D Roger’s son, might actually… he might actually end up…

“… a trade secret.” Huh? Ace heard the tail end of a conversation that he suspected had been about something important. Had it been about him? Ah, he should have paid attention! He’d been rooted to the spot a little to the left, beside the door once they’d entered the room and stopped listening because of the inane chitchat at the start, but he was regretting that now.

“But we’re not here for that, right now, are we?” the Revolutionary knew exactly how to captivate his audience and have them hang on his very lips for the continuation of the conversation. “We’re here about something much more interesting.” Ace froze in recognition of that phrase and where it led towards. His heartbeat picked up, although he did his best to appear nonchalant and not let anyone in on his sudden nervousness.

They’d talked about how they’d do it, of course. The two of them, back in the room he’d been given, right after they’d called Luffy ( _and Sabo’s girlfriend, though he’d keep that to himself for now. He could always use it to annoy the blond later, when he’d have a reason to do so – Ace was sure their middle brother would soon enough give him one, too_ ).

Sabo put his hands in front of his body and spread them out invitingly, smirking like he didn’t just have one ace up his sleeve ( _ha-ha, that was not funny, ‘bo_ ) but a whole deck of cards, just to be on the safe side. “After all, I did promise you a certain person, didn’t I? And you’ve been dying to meet them all week, I’d imagine! It would be awfully impolite of me to break my promise to you.” Ace barely refrained from rolling his eyes here. Impolite, his brother? Neeee-ver… but he did know how to lighten the atmosphere, he had to give him that. The change was minuscule, but he untightened his muscles a tad in response.

His thoughts ground to a halt once Newgate – Whitebeard, that’s Gol D Roger’s contemporary, remember! – raised his hand in a universally accepted stop-sign. His eyes remained closed for a moment, before opening, his expression decisive, but kind. With a deep voice, he lowered his hand and said,

“Thank you, but no.”

The two brothers blinked in unison, at that. Naturally, the Revolutionary recovered first. Dramatically, he put a hand over his forehead and huffed a sigh, a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth, “You don’t want him? Or you don’t want me to tell you his name and where to find him?” He was careful in his phrasing, as he’d always been, so far. At Whitebeard’s affirmative nod and utterances of “Neither.” and “Thank you for your work.”, his face stayed frozen for a beat, before he lowered his hand and stood straight in front of the venerable captain.

“There’s just no pleasing you people sometimes, is there?” the grin was fully out by then.

Ace, meanwhile, was shocked to the core. His feet were stuck to the spot, he had a hard time keeping his eyes from being glassy and blank in current company and his jaw was working to not go slacker than it was already. The commanders that were present were at the back of his mind, but in the face of such a message, that was negligible, he felt.

He didn’t… what?

Before Ace could completely get lost in his thoughts and the possible repercussions and consequences those answers had in store for him, the old captain spoke on.

“In exchange for your services”, a respectful, slow nod was given in Sabo’s direction, “I would, however, like to make an offer, on my part.”

With bated breath, the brothers clung to his words, fixing him with their eyes, hawk-like. Whitebeard’s eyes turned to Ace and to the raven-haired teenager it was as though the gravitas of the situation got made clear for the first time in that meeting.

“I would like to extend an offer to become one of my sons to you, Portgas D Ace.” The ex-Rear Admiral felt as though hammer had met his head. His breathing became shallow albeit quiet in his ears, for his heart began beating at a fast rhythm and his thoughts grew fuzzy around the edges. He felt numb. That was… what did…

A slight upturn of the lips greeted him on the white-bearded captain’s face as he went on to say with a resolve unmatched by anyone Ace could think of that he had met during his life so far, “My reasons are my own. Nevertheless, I would like to have you stay aboard my ship. And I would be delighted if you’d be willing to have me as your captain.” Noticeable was the lack of mention of “sons” and “fathers” in the second explanation. That was all Ace could focus on at the moment.

Again, it was the blond who gathered his wits around him faster than Ace.

“What with you being our hosts, I can hardly decline such an offer. I can, however, only speak for myself.” Lensing towards the ex-marine, his eyes practically screamed how good of an offer he thought this was. Also, they told him exactly how much he’d maim Ace should he dare say anything against it. Or do anything that would put it in jeopardy.

… he was an open book to his brother still, wasn’t he? It was as though he’d written his thoughts onto his forehead for the blond to read at his leisure, no matter what he did to make it hard on the Revolutionary. Oh right. He probably wouldn’t have to do so out of obligation to his superiors, any longer.

“I mean, you did make friends here, didn’t you?” Sabo’s mien darkened a little, “You did, right?” In Ace’s eyes, his mimics asked whether he’d tried to threaten, maim or kill anyone on board yet. Ah, he had to disappoint his brother. According to Sabo’s grand scheme, he was the guest here, wasn’t he? It wouldn’t have made sense to look a gift horse in the mouth and kill it with a knife while he was at it. But he could tease his brother at least a bit first.

“Eh, who knows.” He shrugged carelessly in the face of his brother’s steadily darkening face – ah, he’d soon develop more of a tic in his eye, wouldn’t he? Oh, no, actually, his left hand twitched briefly. It was for but a moment, yet Ace had _seen_ it. Heh.

Holding his hands behind his back, he started moving to and fro slightly, exuding an air of innocence and ignorance ( _none of the two were either, with Luffy being the worrisome little brother somehow managing to incorporate both into his everyday life_ ).

Ace couldn’t be bothered to think back on how Marco had been the one to have that talk at the railing with him the other night when he couldn’t sleep. Or how Haruta had shown him to the galley the first time he’d tried to find it. Or how Izo had taken one look at his ( _itchy, uncomfortable_ ) marine uniform that he was still wearing with distaste and declared it unfit to be on a pirate ship like theirs ( _“much less a Yonko ship, do you_ want _to give us a bad reputation?”_ ) – he’d stalked off and nigh a day later he had a few shirts to call his own, along with a pair of pants that _fit him_.

He’d rather keep his mouth shut than choke on the emotion that was almost drowning him right then.

Obviously, Sabo went on to decide that his brother needed his help, raised an eyebrow and exasperatedly declared him fit to become a Whitebeard. In front of the commanders. And Whitebeard himself. Ace’s eyes opened a tad wider. The blond continued by asking him what he was, an idiot? And the raven-haired ex-marine’s eyes closed for one minute before a vein almost literally began to pop on his forehead.

Once he opened them, he realised that no, the Revolutionary was still spouting nonsense about him to the avidly listening crowd and wasn’t done just calling him names, no, he had to bring out **_stories_** -

Eh, no one could begrudge him giving in to his instincts and tackling the blond to the ground where a minor scuffle kept them occupied for an indeterminate amount of time.

“A brother for a brother” was the deal. They’d been told they’d be able to gain a brother in Gol D Roger’s son by rescuing Sabo ( _who’d rescued Thatch, after all, long before all these shenanigans started_ ). When the plans changed and they’d accepted that second deal including the one-week waiting for the reveal of Gol D Roger’s son, Sabo had essentially tested them and their ability to make Ace accept them.

Ah, if they’d known that the people in those deals were one and the same – but oh, that’d have ruined the surprise.

The ex-Rear Admiral didn’t need long to… accept, in the end.

( _Hesitantly_ )

( _Reluctantly_ )

( _And with an air of nervousness around him_ )

When he did, Whitebeard welcomed him to his crew, with a smile on his mouth that crinkled his eyes. And Ace trusted in that, at least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just ate the 24th piece of chocolate from the advent calendar. You know what this means? This signifies the end of the challenge!!! O_O I can't believe I've managed to finish this monster of a story!!! :D  
> Awesome!  
> See my last chapter's AN for more info on how I'm planning to go on - and my profile page, which I shall update in the next few days to include my next few projects and the process I've made on them. So feel free to check out my profile and my other stories in the meantime, dear readers ;) I'll take a bit of a break from posting now that this is done and over with.  
> No worries, though I shall create as much and as varied as I can! ;D  
> Also, family stuff is still ongoing - so I'm going to let fanfic-posting take a bit of a backseat for now.  
> Thank y'all for your support and the hits and the likes and the reviews!!! I can't express how much that all helped me through this monster of a challenge... it's been an amazing ride, dearest readers. I hope you enjoyed reading this story as much as I did writing it - if that's the case then I can rest happily. =^_^=  
> Thank you so much for reading it!  
> Cheers!


	25. Bonus chapter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I say another chapter will be added later? Well, later is NOW. B)  
> Enjoy reading!

"I can't believe she _stole our boat_! After we've kindly taken her aboard our ship, given her resources and a bit of money to get back on her feet and fed her! That lying, conniving, two-faced-" she was working herself into quite a rage there.

"But she did say she didn't plan on staying for long." came the unasked-for comment from her partner's little brother. Without a care in the world, he was leaning on the railing, looking a bit wistfully into the direction that the ( _sturdy, valuable, emergency_ ) boat had disappeared to not all that long ago. He'd have loved to have her on his future pirate crew, but seeing as he'd technically not started out to gather one yet, she'd turned him down.

Luffy pouted.

When he'd asked her if she wanted to be his friend ( _if she didn't want to become his nakama, he wanted to be her friend, at least. The way she'd been drifting in that boat until they'd picked her up told him that she was bound to have some interesting stories to tell!_ ), she'd straight out told him that she didn't need friends - which was a blatant lie, if he ever saw one!

His pout deepened.

Everybody needed friends.

That... he'd figured that there was something going on in her life that wasn't anything easy to solve.

But he'd not interfere until she'd allow him. Until it was okay and she allowed for him to help.

For now, he'd watch.

"Ready to cast off, Koala!" a voice shouted over the deck.

"Then what are we waiting for! Set sail! Let's see if we can't catch up to this girl! Full speed ahead!!!" Sabo's nakama was fun to be around, Luffy concluded. Her voice when she was angry wavered funnily; he knew why his blond older brother was fond of teasing her, although she had the tendency to resemble a volcano when it was Sabo talking to her.

Luffy wondered if Dadan's head had ever gotten this red when the three of them had been around... then promptly dismissed the matter entirely. There were more interesting things to think about. Like food!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have to say I might have gotten used to those "24-every-day-upload-one-chapter"-thingamajings... *thoughtful face* I might even go so far as to say that I might do that more in the near future... then again, I'm not the most consistent person usually, so nah. We'll see. Let yourself be surprised, dear readers! :D  
> (Also, I somehow managed to get together exactly 15333 words in this story alone! XD it's awesome!)
> 
> Hope you liked my story so far ^_^ thank you for reading!


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